I woke up this morning to hear that e-cigarettes could be available to smokers on the NHS. I already wasn’t in the mood to get up and go to work and this nonsense has made me even more annoyed. The NHS is supposed to help people, not become a crutch for those who can’t be bothered to give up smoking.

I think this is an absolutely ridiculous idea and I’m sure I’m not the only one saying this. If smokers want to smoke- or even kick the habit -then that is their choice, but surely it would be more beneficial if nicotine patches and gum were free on the NHS? These are designed to help people try to give up smoking and also, from what I have seen in the shops, these items are very expensive (£10 for a pack of nicotine gum?!). E-cigarettes should not be prescribed. At all. Anyway those that want one can afford to get one and already have one, judging by how many I see smoking them in the street.

There are medicines out that are held back from being made available on the NHS because it is allegedly too expensive- things that are far more important than e-cigarettes.
If you want to make a list of what should be prescribed on the NHS, how about tampons and sanitary towels or pads, especially for women like me who suffer terribly every month? Nah, of course not because the powers-that-be hang us women out to dry and make us spend our hard-earned cash bulk-buying in Boots and Superdrug. To them, it is all about the revenue they make from such life-affirming products (you may mock but they are the difference between dignity and the embarassment of leaking on a chair on your heaviest bloodiest day). I hate to say this but if men had periods, pads would be available on the NHS. Mind you we had a woman in power and what did she do for us in that area? Don’t worry, I’ll wait…

So far, this e-cigarette idea is merely a proposal- nothing is set in stone. But if it becomes reality, it will make a mockery of the NHS and what it is truly about.

I picked up a copy of the Evening Standard tonight, hoping there might be something decent to read on my way home. Instead I found myself wondering if the journalists for this newspaper live in the same London that I do…

This ‘article’ must be a joke. Seriously. Apparently, some trend called ‘normcore’ (nope, me neither) is what’s ‘in’ right now in London town. Call me old-fashioned or downright sane but to me, ‘normcore’ is ‘wearing your normal, non-designer-labelled clothing everyday and not making a song and dance about it’.

According to this, I’m one of the really cool kids. Honestly, did the journalist whose article this is believe in what he wrote? I have read some absolute bollocks in the Evening Standard’s ‘trendy’ section over the years but this takes the biscuit.

I’m no trendsetter by any means but spare me such patronising waffle. I guess what I’m trying to say is: everyone has ‘everyday’ clothes- the items you throw on when going for a pint of milk or you cannot be arsed to get dolled up. There’s something about this piece that annoyed the hell out of me. More than likely it was the patronising tone of ‘Oh wow, we hipsters can look like normal folk and like, still look, like, hip. But we won’t shop in Primark ‘cos we’re not exactly ordinary but can still look ordinary and like, extraordinary if we chuck money at ourselves.’

So, Evening Standard, is there any chance you could stop writing these awful, almost beyond parody articles? They don’t reflect London, they’re just nonsensical.